In a memorandum published by the city’s attorney and posted on the city’s website, attorney John “Skip” Randolph advised the city to look at its zoning ordinance instead, which only allows bona fide employees to work in private. clubs to live. So if Trump is a ‘bona fide employee of the club’, the zoning in the city will allow him to live on the premises, Randolph concluded.
In the memo, Randolph recommended that the city council hear from interested parties, including Trump, and discuss the issue further.
A letter to Trumpol from Trump’s lawyer argued last month that the former president is a bona fide employee of the resort and therefore ‘clearly entitled to live there’.
The city of Palm Beach will hear the review as part of the city council meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, according to the agenda and supporting documents posted on the city’s website.
Trump bought the former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1985 and in 1993 made it a members-only club. To convert the private home into a revenue-generating business, he had to agree to certain restrictions, based on guidelines presented as an agreement. breakers from Palm Beach.
For example, there could be no more than 500 members, there were rules regarding parking and traffic, and club members could not spend more than seven consecutive days in Mar-a-Lago, or no more than three weeks a year. Trump signed the agreement.
Randolph said the issue “mainly depends on whether former President Trump is a bona fide employee of the club.” In the two-page legal memorandum, Randolph writes that the city code for private clubs allows a private club to provide accommodation only for its bona fide employees. “He added that the definition of the city code of employee” includes sole proprietorships, partners, limited partners, corporate officers and the like. ”
Randolph then concluded that “if he is a bona fide employee of the club, absent from a specific restriction prohibiting former president Trump from attending the club, it appears that the zoning code allows him to join the club. club to live. ”
Randolph continues: “After maintaining all the relevant presentations, the city council should consider this matter and determine what steps, if any, should be taken.”
“It’s a very disillusioned place,” Laurence Leamer, historian and author of “Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace,” told MSNBC earlier this month. He said members were “not worried about politics and they said the food was not good.”
Leamer said he spoke to a number of former members who “quietly walked out” after Trump left office.
CNN’s Kate Bennett, Caroline Kelly, Katelyn Polantz and Alexis Benveniste contributed to this report.